


Eternity

by community_gardens



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/F, Immortality, Post-Canon, mostly just angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25665913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/community_gardens/pseuds/community_gardens
Summary: Marceline deals with death and immortality.
Relationships: Princess Bubblegum/Marceline
Comments: 1
Kudos: 71





	Eternity

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I wrote this at like 4am because I just wanted to write some Marceline angst,, I pretty much only ever do Marceline centric whoops sorry

Marceline has lived for such a long time. And so too will she will continue living, she will live for as long as she allows herself. She will live as much as someone whose heart does not beat can. Untill she is Truly Dead. 

But the thing about living forever is that not everyone does. Sure, some people live long. Some people live for centuries at a time. But they still die.

And so Marceline always knew Simon would die, someday. She had known it since the day her mother died. He was human. Mortal. Some days she almost felt herself wishing he was still the Ice King. That he would live forever right beside her. But that was selfish. She knew she didn't really want that. Marceline had seen a lot of death throughout her life, but Simon's still hurt. He died old and happy, searching for Betty until his last breath. She almost envied him for that. But instead she was glad. Glad Simon was allowed to grow old and die surrounded by the people who cared about him. Finn and Jake were there. Bonnibel held her quietly as his heart monitor slowed and she held his hand gently. Simon died happy, but Marceline still hurt. It seems fathers don't live forever, even when you wish that they did.

She barely made it through the funeral, just long enough to see him in the ground, before she was running. She ran for so long, flying until the little warmth her skin held was long gone. She found a cave and crawled inside until she was pressed against the cavern walls, a ball of fur and feather. Marceline slept for a decade. 

Bonnibel woke her up long after and picked up her broken pieces, stitching them back together with practiced ease. Marceline never knew how to cope with her pain, and the princess knew this. She knew that Marceline would always run, so she let her. But she always came to find her afterwards. 

Jake went next. He too lived long and well into old age and passed away contented in his sleep. Marceline stood by Finn's side as he held his brother's hand tightly. Jake was a good friend, always. But dogs don't live forever, not even the magical ones. 

It seemed like such a short time ago that Finn was just a twelve year old boy living in her sometimes-home. It seemed like an even shorter time ago that he was newly grown, married and happy. It wasn't long before he too passed. Marceline was there once more, Bonnibel right by her side just as she was before. This time Marceline didn't run. If only because it was Finn. The human who taught her so much that she had forgotten in her age. He taught her that sadness doesn't last forever. When your life is finite there's no time to grieve. You just keep living. But human boys do not live forever, not even heroes.

She stayed to see monuments built in their image, lived to ensure they were remembered. Finn and Jake would get only the best, after all. 

Her and Bonnie Lived for so long together, and the Candy Kingdom grew and grew. There were rough patches, but they always found their way back to one another. They gravitated towards each other as immortals do, intertwined for eternity. 

Her old friends died, slowly and over time, but eventually even the longest lived were gone. Like the tides on a beach, the world around her changed in pushes and pulls. Eventually, even BMO became obsolete, their tech becoming harder and harder to replace. Even with all of Bonnibel's brain, the little robot's heart of gold could only persist for so long.

Marceline was used to death. Hell, she _was_ dead, in a sense. But the vampire had a feeling that this was the last death she would bear as she held two pink hands, eternally soft and warm in her grasp. Bonnibel had always retrieved her, always put her back together. And she had forever done the same. But this time was the last. She knew it in the way those hands felt limp in her grasp, in the way that flawless young face held such a look of finality. Marceline knew she was crying. She knew it as soft hands grazed her cheeks and murmured words met her ears. She found herself trying to memorize the sound of that voice, the exact shade of pink. But she knew it was already there. It was already there in the very deepest part of her. Bonnibel Bubblegum was written with vigorous intent into every bone of her body, carved deep and long in pompous, cursive letters. Weathered over millennia. She could never forget, even if she wanted. No, not even lovers live forever. Even if they remain in your memory. 

Marceline did not run as Bonnibel Bubblegum lay before her in their bed, face as perfect as it was millennia before. But Bubblegum was old. So unbelievably old. She had lived and seen empires, civilizations, gods. All rise and fall. And Marceline had seen them with her. 

Sometimes, even immortals die. Everything that is alive eventually does. And surely Princess Bubblegum was alive. You could see it in the way she laughed or by the warmth in her skin. The princess had lived long enough for it to be considered forever to some, but it was not enough for Marceline. Never enough. Though her heart had stopped centuries ago, she could feel it dying before her. Bonnibel Bubblegum was not only written into Marceline's bones, but into her soul. And now she was left with just an echo. A shell. A hole where Bonnibel Bubblegum once fit. 

But Marceline did not run. Why would she, if her princess would not be there to come and find her again? If her broken pieces could not be picked up and sewn back together. So instead she stood and whispered soft words and quiet laughter as her heart died in front of her, slowly fading away. 

Even after, she stayed in place. She made sure memorials and statues and celebrations were held, festivities to befit someone like Bonnibel. She took care of her princess's precious kingdom, softly guiding it on the right path. And then Marceline moved. She left the home she had shared with her beloved for centuries and returned to places she once knew. She saw things entirely different and yet so familiar. New buildings rebuilt a few feet out of place, ruins destroyed and built over. A new world built upon the ashes of places she loved. And Marceline loved these new places too. She traveled and traveled until she had seen it all. Until she stood upon the tallest branches of an old friend, an old sometimes-home. Reaching far beyond the clouds. A sword lay in the branches. One she knew a very long time ago. One she knew once again in the hands of an almost-but-not-quite-new wielder. And she looks up at the sky, stars slowly fading out in morning light. Marceline was so, so old. Old enough to have seen countless impossibilities. She lived and loved and grieved and then she loved again. And she still loved; her home and her people and friends long gone. But now her heart was gone and she was still here, loving with nothing to contain it. She knew that she would die, just like fathers and dogs and human boys and lovers do. Marceline would die. But she did not run, for she knew that this would be the last death she would see. 

And then Marceline greeted the sun as she hadn't in so, so long. And she smiled. 


End file.
